Spain v England: Women’s World Cup 2027 qualifying – live

Key events

4m ago

GOAL! Spain 1-0 England (Guijarro 19)

24m ago

Kick-off: Spain 0-0 England

1h ago

Team news

1h ago

Preamble

25 min: Spain win the ball back in the final third after England’s sloppy passing at the back. Putellas again … and her low shot is on target this time but straight at Hampton.

24 min: Spain pass the ball around casually and it gets to Putellas, who is unmarked at the edge of the box. Luckily for England, she skies it high and wide.

20 min: A bit of drama after the goal scored … Hampton kept hold of the ball despite the Spanish players attempting to get it from her grasp and Guijarro had a few words for the referee. England hope to respond with a corner which they fail to do.

GOAL! Spain 1-0 England (Guijarro 19)

Patri Guijarro was born here in Mallorca and she is the one who opens the scoring with a fantastic low shot that wrong foots Hampton after she nutmegs Stanway in midfield. Huge goal for Spain, who need to win today to have a chance of topping the group.

17 min: James has a go at a curler after an England corner but the ball hits a sea of red shirts and bounces to Walsh. She then attempts a shot and it drifts just above the bar. Not a bad effort at all.

15 min: Guijarro finds Paralluelo with another ball over the top. The latter can’t get the touch right but she recovers well and gets past her marker but her cross is headed away. The ball limites to Caldentey, who has a go from distance, but it dribbles wide.

13 min: Huge chance! Imade sneaks off the shoulder of Morgan and meets a looping ball that comes in over the top. Hampton comes out and catches the ball before dropping it but no red shirts are around to hit the rebound. Relief for England.

9 min: Spain now enjoying the ball. Corrales gets forward and with a great cross to an unmarked Putellas. She had all the time to bring the ball down but she opts to head it straight away and fails to hit the target.

6 min: England enjoying the possession but Spain have a chance to counter here … and Imade is offside.

5 min: Encouraging from England. Stanway wins the ball back in the final third and the visitors are on the attack again. Greenwood and Russo try to combine and Spain just manage to clear it. Hemp then wins the ball back on the left and attempts a cross but Spain, once again, deal with the danger.

4 min: James shrugs of Paredes and finds Greenwood with a great pass forward. Greenwood then finds the central Russo but Greenwood was well offside.

Tom Garry

On the ground: What an atmosphere inside this stadium, with almost every single Spain fan waving their national flag in their air as the anthems are played. They respectfully applauded after ‘God save the King’ and then really upped their noise levels. High up here in the top tier of the stands, we have a view of the mountains to our left and the sea to our right. The sun is setting and the scene is very picturesque.

2 min: López and Imade try to combine but James is all the way back and wins the ball back. Caldentey then plays a good ball in but Bronze deals with it eventually with an awkward header away.

Kick-off: Spain 0-0 England

Here we go! Spain in their red shirts and navy shorts and England in their white tops and blue shorts.

The players are out of the tunnel and the national anthems are about to be sung.

Here is a reminder of the teams:

Spain XI (4-3-3): Coll; Batlle, Paredes, León, Corrales; Caldentey, Guijarro, Putellas; López, Imade, Paralluelo.

Subs: Rodríguez, Nanclares, Méndez, Carmona, Codina, Serrajordi, Bonmatí, Benítez, González, Del Castillo, Navarro, Pina.

England XI (4-3-3): Hampton; Bronze, Wubben-Moy, Morgan, Greenwood; Toone, Walsh, Stanway; Hemp, Russo, James.

Subs: Moorhouse, Baggaley, Le Tissier, Carter, Charles, Fisk, Kendall, Mead, Park, Godfrey, Blindkilde, Kelly.

Preview: Can England show that they are ready to be world champions? Here’s a bit of Tom Garry’s thoughts.

Spain away is the toughest fixture in international football. Topping a difficult qualifying group – in a fixture that is a repeat of the 2023 World Cup final – would show the Lionesses are ready for a world title to add to their two European triumphs.

As Europe’s two strongest sides, and as two of the best in the world alongside the USA, these rivals met in the European Championship final only 11 months ago, which England won in a penalty shootout.

Lucy Bronze says Spain “bring out the best in us”, the England right-back adding: “It’s one of those rivalries where we have made each other better over the years. It’s good for the game and it’s good for each other.”

Read the full preview below.

Sarina Wiegman speaks to ITV before the match.

On Wutten-Moy slotting in for the injured Leah Williamson:

She has had a very good season and she and Leah tend to swap positions when Leah is out, or if she isn’t. She is ready for tonight.

On Toone’s first England start since November:

Ella is very talented and brings something different to our team. I expect a very intense game and I hope she can bring what she can do.

On what will be learned from this game:

You learn from every game. We learned a lot from Iceland. We learned a lot from Ukraine. This game will give us the most pressure we can imagine, in execution but also decision making.

On James returning from injury:

Having Lauren is a boost. The squad is in a good place. [James] had a small injury and she recovered really well.

Tom Garry

On the ground: We are expecting about 20,000 fans here tonight and the atmosphere is lively outside. We have drummers, dancers, a DJ and red-and-yellow Spain kits everywhere.

Permutations: The league stage of the Uefa’s Women’s World Cup qualifiers runs until 9 June.

Four direct qualification spots for the 2027 World Cup in Brazil will be decided by then while 32 slots in the playoffs (drawn on 18 June) are also up for grabs. Teams are also competing for promotion and relegation ahead of the next edition of the Nations League.

England will qualify as group winners if they avoid defeat by Spain today while Spain will be confirmed in the playoffs if they do not beat England.

Should Spain beat England today, the two teams will both be on 12 points. From there, qualification will be based on goal difference.

Iceland and Ukraine make up the other two teams in the group. Both are confirmed in the playoffs and the former are safe from relegation after beating the latter 1-0 earlier today.

Team news

Spain XI (4-3-3): Coll; Batlle, Paredes, León, Corrales; Caldentey, Guijarro, Putellas; López, Imade, Paralluelo.

Subs: Rodríguez, Nanclares, Méndez, Carmona, Codina, Serrajordi, Bonmatí, Benítez, González, Del Castillo, Navarro, Pina.

England XI (4-3-3): Hampton; Bronze, Wubben-Moy, Morgan, Greenwood; Toone, Walsh, Stanway; Hemp, Russo, James.

Subs: Moorhouse, Baggaley, Le Tissier, Carter, Charles, Fisk, Kendall, Mead, Park, Godfrey, Blindkilde, Kelly.

Referee: Ivana Martincic (Croatia)

Preamble

The newest chapter of the Spain-England rivalry will be written today in Mallorca where the World Cup holders host the European champions.

The two teams have met six times since Sarina Wiegman’s side beat Spain 2-1 during the quarter-finals of the Women’s Euro 2022. Most recently, England beat Spain 1-0 at Wembley and, with the only perfect record remaining in Group A3, will qualify for next summer’s showpiece event in Brazil with a game to spare if they avoid defeat.

Spain have been here before – back in the 2025 Nations League, Spain lost 1-0 at Wembley before beating England 2-1 to qualify – and eventually win – the World Cup in Australia.

Permutations and team news to come. Join me for the 8pm BST kick-off.